This is no place to exist alone
sand . silt . clay . or stone. – i will bind you –
this is chemical this is electric it cannot be tamed:
we exist together…………or we die in vain.
For in This Storm, the only way to weather, is to come together
So let your Roots be my Anchor, & I’ll be your Reservoir,
releasing every Nutrient you need,
to reach your Branches toward the Stars.
And for each bud-leaf-petal that you adorn to my Soiled Temples,
i will digest and breathe anew
cycling these lives that fall to become our nourishment –
our grounding –
our glue.
Some to keep, and some to use:
– Soil to Root to Air and Food –
What is part of me, becomes part of you.
So thread your roots and mycelial groups in and around:
Here, we become the literal Common Ground.
One tangled and intertwined:
We do not Waste or Want, We Provide,
for our Shared Land – not yours or mine:
We must persist and resist those who see with only one I.
Because Together we are More, More than just a Me,
Collective Stewards, One with the Land,
Rooted Here
– We are Community –
Author: Nicole Kennard is a community food systems organiser in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.. She also conducts research around soil health and resilient local food systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She was a co-founder of the UK fermentation collective Social Pickle and wrote an article on Social Pickle for Rooted magazine.
This poem is part of Issue 2-2025: Cultivating health and healing
